LA ARTS: The LA Anti-Racist Theatre Standards were created by a diverse collective of LA theatre artists dedicated to true equity and looking to create lasting, systemic change in our institutions and community. Inspired and influenced by the work of We See You White American Theatre, we drafted the following list of standards and practices that are specifically geared towards the Los Angeles theatre community, a community that has often had incredible leadership and contributions from our BIPOC theatres, and yet, as a whole, has failed to represent the diversity of Los Angeles.
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Being a Los Angeles native, I was immediately drawn to this article. What I find interesting about the set of standards that are being presented is the question of tokenism. By requiring standards for diversity, are creators of theatre actually producing diverse works with diverse casts for the purpose of inclusion and sharing a range of stories, or for the purpose of being politically correct. Does that matter, if the stories are being shared? I believe so. It brings to light the role of intention in the creation of theatre in general, something that I think has been lost lately, especially in commercial theatre. I also want to clarify that I do not think all theatrical artists make theatre for the purpose of only making money, just those in power who control what is put on stage.
"We are calling upon all Los Angeles theatre institutions to live up to their promise of lasting, true, foundational change." This great statement is buried in the third paragraph.
This is not as much of an article as it is a statement of what theaters in Los Angeles should be doing. They acknowledge that they are aware that other agreements regarding DEAI are being discussed and most companies are paying some service to them. This document is meant to be a regional specific version of the We See You White American Theater manifesto.
The gist of this article seems to be that theaters need to reflect the communities of Los Angeles and to orient their performances towards the members of the community that actually live there; not just the elite, older, white, people. I think that is the bare minimum for what the theaters should be doing there. While I think it is great that this document exists, it feels like it could be a template used for any region with the local population and language updated to match. Not that this is a bad thing, it would be great if nationally we had ways to hold companies accountable.
LA Arts's statement is incredibly thorough and intuitive. Their opening statement and glossary really show how they are setting the reader up to understand and listen. It reminded me that there is no excuse to not understand the terminology used in Anti-Racist statements as there are so many resources online to do so. One sharp statement I have never considered was that institutions should consider if they are "seeking the rights to a culturally specific play," then they should communicate with members of the community who may be more fit to do, or co-produce. Co-producing sounds like a wonderful idea that is probably mutually beneficial, but maybe more so for the more white institution, because they have the chance to learn a lot, maybe even about the way another theatre runs. I feel like this also doesn't have to be limited to theatres too. For example, if a theatre was putting on "Fiddler on the Roof" they could consult a local Jewish history museum to understand how the pogroms displayed in the production took place in history and ultimately led to WWII.
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